From the lush greenery of Kerala, to the parched lands of Cloncurry (which is 3,500 kms away from Sydney), it has been one long journey for Dr. Unnikrishnan. What made him embark on this journey that transcends national boundaries was the urge to acquire greater levels of technical knowledge. What began as knowledge hunting has now culminated itself into International recognition and achievement.

Dr. Unnikrishnan, lovingly called Unni by everyone, was instrumental in developing the transportation routes for Sydney Olympics, which was considered as excellent and best in the history of Olympics.

And, because of the hard work and efforts of Unni was given the Main Roads Excellence Award for developing a Road Management Information System (ARMIS) and Geographical Information System (GIS).

Unni is one of the few experts of GIS. It assumes great importance given the fact that there are only about 100 or so GIS specialists in a developed country like Australia. And there are not many, or almost nil, in the area, which he works on, the Cloncurry region.

Not many in Kerala might have heard about Cloncurry. It is a small village with 3000 inhabitants, consisting largely of whites and aboriginees. He was the only (Family included) Indian in that part of the world. And not many of the aborigines, even whites, know about India, and for that matter Kerala.

In his endeavour to reach out to the local community and to become an indispensable part of the society, Unni began to concentrate on community work. By doing so, he came into close contact with almost all the members of the community and regularly contributed his might for the betterment of the society.

With his pleasing manners and interpersonal skills, he built a people-friendly image. It paid him rich dividends, mentally as well as socially. He was accepted as one among them and even the mayor of the town regularly took advice from him on development matters.

Unni has trained several aborigines and had collected their artifacts and other curios to showcase them for wider publicity. He even gave work for some in his department.

Unni landed in Australia in 1992. Before that he worked as Gazetted and District level officer in Kerala Government. He received ‘Good Service Entry’ from Kerala Government for the meritorious service rendered during drought. It was for the first time that an employee of the Groundwater department was given this.

In fact, he has to his credit several firsts. He is the First PhD in Marine Geology (studies on Kerala coast). It was the First PhD by a Marine Geology department student from Cochin University of Science and Technology. He secured First Rank with record marks in Marine Geology (Msc) from Cochin University of Science and Technology and First distinction holder in Msc (Geology) of 3 Universities (Kerala, Cochin and Calicut).

He got distinction marks for MAppSc (Masters in Applied Sciences – GIS) from University of New South Wales, Australia. Achieved 95 per cent marks for the final project (a record mark in the faculty).

Such was his educational record that the Australian High Commission offered him visa even without conducting an interview. It was sheer hard work that paved the way for his meteoric rise in the career.

He was also recommended for holding Sydney 2000 Olympics torchbearer by State government department and Lions Club, Australia. But, by quirk of fate, he missed out that chance.

Effective time management is the key to juggling his numerous responsibilities and still finds time to indulge in reading, writing and to pursue Yoga.

A keen nature observer, he has written many articles on the unique wildlife of Australia. Besides this, he has reported Sydney 200 Olympics for the Deepika daily in Kerala.